Description

Rino Gaetano was
born in Crotone, in the southern Italian region of Calabria. At the age of nine, he had to follow his parents to Rome,
where he spent the rest of his life. In 1978 Gaetano took part in the Sanremo Music Festival performing the song
"Gianna" and reaching third place after Anna Oxa and Matia Bazar. Gaetano had originally planned to perform "Nuntereggae
più", which was a highly-innovative (for the times) half-sung/half-spoken proto-rap against several Italian sportsmen,
politicians and other high-profile figures; producers of the show refused to let him sing that one, pointing out that it
also mentioned the then-active Red Brigades, so he picked "Gianna" instead. The song went on to dominate the charts for
several weeks. His career was cut short by a car accident at the age of 30. On June 2, 1981, his car (a Volvo 343)
crashed into a truck on the Via Nomentana street in Rome. After the crash, Gaetano was reportedly injured but still
alive, but was then rejected by five hospitals, and died on the way to a sixth